System for creating and processing coded payment methods

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention include systems, methods, and computer-program products for a clearing house for creating and directing readable indicia to/from merchants, users, and/or vendors. As such, merchants, users, and vendors may all be able to recognize, read, and complete transactions using a created universal readable indicia, irrespective of the entities associated with the transaction. The invention may create and provide a universal readable indicia that may be read and/or scanned by any of a user, merchant, or vendor. Subsequently, upon scanning, the system may recognize the appropriate vendor associated with the scan, based on information about the user or merchant derived from the scan. As such, the invention may be able to convert the universal readable indicia to one or more indicia accepted by a vendor that may complete the transaction with the user and/or merchant.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/691,523, filed Nov. 30, 2012, the entirety of which is incorporatedby reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Over the years, primary methods for payment and transacting have evolvedfrom paper, cash, and checks to credit, cards, debit cards, andelectronic methods. More recently, technology has allowed other methodsof payments and transacting, such as using electronic devices and otherdevices.

When a customer uses a primary method of transacting, the transaction istypically completed quickly and effectively. However, many of the newmethods of payment are only recently developed and as such that they arenot universally accepted or recognized. As such, some merchants acceptnew methods of transacting and some do not. Furthermore, only developersor proprietors of the new technology are able to read and/or complete atransaction using the new technology. Thus resulting in slowertransaction and some uncertainty arise when using new methods oftransacting.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention address the above needs and/orachieve other advantages by providing apparatuses (e.g., a system,computer program product and/or other devices) and methods for aclearing house for directing readable indicia to/from merchants, users,and/or vendors. In this way, the system may receiving, reading,creating, and communicate readable indicia to/from merchants, users, andvendors. In this way, merchants, users, and vendors may all be able torecognize, read, and complete transactions using any readable indicia,irrespective of the vendor providing the readable indicia. As such, anyreadable indicia may be used, recognized, or read to complete atransaction.

In some embodiments, the invention may provide merchants or users withreadable indicia from one or more readable indicia vendors. In otherembodiments, the invention may recognize readable indicia communicatedto the system based on the vendor associated with the indicia. In yetother embodiments, the invention may provide a universal readableindicia that the invention may later be able to convert to one or moreindicia accepted by a vendor. As such, the invention provides a clearinghouse for the directing, such as receiving, translating, andcommunicating readable indicia between parties of a transaction, suchthat each party may be able to recognize the readable indicia andcomplete the transaction.

The clearing house may first be set up such that the system may be ableto read, recognize, and/or replicate any readable indicia provided by areadable indicia vendor. As such, the clearing house may be able tocommunicate to a merchant, user, or vendor in the proper format, suchthat the merchant, user, or vender may be able to recognize the readableindicia for a transaction. In some embodiments, the clearing house mayfirst determine the readable indicia providing vendors. The clearinghouse may continuously monitor for new readable indicia and new readableindicia vendors. Once determined the clearing house may recognize thereadable indicia that is provided by each vendor. As such, when theclearing house receives information associated with a readable indiciain the future, the system may recognize what vendor is associated withthat readable indicia. In some embodiments, the readable indicia, thevendor, and information associated with the same may be stored withinthe clearing house for future referencing. As such, the clearing housemay be able to direct received readable indicia, based on this storedinformation, to/from the appropriate readable indicia providing vendorand create, if necessary, a communication link between the vendor and athird party.

In some embodiments, the invention may provide merchants or users withreadable indicia from one or more readable indicia vendors. In this way,the system may receive an indication that a merchant or a user wishes toreceive a readable indicia to finish a transaction. The system maydetermine the appropriate readable indicia and the appropriate vendorfor the transaction and communicate with that vendor. In turn, thesystem may then receive a readable indicia from the appropriate vendorand communicate that readable indicia to the merchant or user. Forexample, a user may wish to transact with a merchant using his/her userdevice. The merchant may communicate this wish to the system. The systemmay determine based on the information communicated to it, the user, andthe like, an appropriate readable indicia to present to the user for thetransaction. An appropriate readable indicia may include the correctvendor providing the readable indicia such that the user and merchantmay be able to read/communicate via the readable indicia to complete thetransaction, details about the transaction, and the like.

In other embodiments, the invention may recognize readable indiciacommunicated to the system based on the vendor associated with theindicia. In this way, a merchant and/or user may have used a readableindicia to complete a transaction. However, because there are a largenumber of vendors associated with readable indicia, the merchant or usermay not know which vendor to communicate with to finalize thetransaction. As such, the system may receive the readable indicia fromthe user and/or merchant, determine the appropriate vendor associatedwith the readable indicia, and communicate the readable indicia to thevendor. In some embodiments, the system may provide for a communicationlink between the vendor and the merchant or user. In other embodiments,the system may act as intermediately for relaying and convertingcommunications between the vendor and the merchant or user.

In some embodiments, the invention may provide a universal readableindicia that the invention may later be able to convert to one or moreindicia accepted by a vendor. The universal readable indicia may beprovided to a user or merchant to complete a transaction. In this way, auser may wish to complete a transaction with his/her user device, suchas a mobile phone or the like with a merchant. The system may presentthe merchant with a universal readable indicia for user scanning. Inturn, the merchant may present the universal readable indicia to a userto complete the transaction. Upon scanning of the universal readableindicia the system may receive information associated with the scan fromthe merchant and/or the user. Based on the scan, the system maydetermine a vendor that the user and/or merchant may recognize in orderto complete the transaction. As such, the system may direct thetransaction information to the appropriate readable indicia vendor inorder to complete the transaction.

Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computerprogram products for receiving information associated with one or morevendors, wherein the one or more vendors supply readable indicia usedfor transactions; receiving an indication of a transaction between auser and a merchant, wherein the transaction is to be completed using areadable indicia at a point-of-transaction (POT) of the merchant;creating a universal readable indicia, wherein the universal readableindicia is able to be read by all indicia readers; providing themerchant with a universal readable indicia, such that the universalreadable indicia is presented to the user for the transaction; receivingan indication that the user scanned the universal readable indicia;determining from the scanned universal readable indicia an appropriatevendor from the one or more vendors to direct the transaction; anddirecting the transaction to the appropriate vendor such that acommunication link between the merchant and the vendor is created tocomplete the transaction.

In some embodiments, the appropriate vendor from the one or more vendorsfurther comprises a vendor that the user or the merchant has a paymentaccount associated with, such that the transaction can be completedusing the payment account associated with the vendor.

In some embodiments, the invention further comprises retrievingavailable readable indicia associated with each of the one or morevendors; and storing the available readable indicia associated with eachof the one or more vendors, information about the vendor, and dataassociated with the available readable indicia such that a vendorassociated with each of the available readable indicia is identifiablebased on a partial reading of the available readable indicia.

In some embodiments, the invention further comprises allowing forprocessing of the transaction using the universal readable indicia, suchthat the appropriate vendor authorizes the transaction; and creating adirect communication link between the appropriate vendor and themerchant of the transaction.

In some embodiments, retrieving available readable indicia associatedwith each of the one or more vendors comprises continuously monitoringeach of the one or more vendors and retrieving newly created availablereadable indicia from the one or more vendors.

In some embodiments, determining from the scanned universal readableindicia an appropriate vendor from the one or more vendors to direct thetransaction further comprises: determining information related to a usermobile device associated with the scanned universal readable indicia andcommunicating with the one or more vendors to determine if the user isassociated with the vendor, wherein determining if the user isassociated with the vendor is based at least in part on the informationrelated to the mobile device.

In some embodiments, the universal readable indicia comprises a QuickResponse (QR) code. In some embodiments, the universal readable indiciais comprised in a tag that transmits information wirelessly.

In some embodiments, the invention further comprises receiving anindication that the user selected the universal readable indicia at apoint-of-transaction (POT) of the merchant, wherein the indication thatthe user selected the universal readable indicia is received from amobile device that comprises an image-capturing component, and whereinan image of the readable indicia used for the transaction is captured bythe mobile device.

The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed may beachieved independently in various embodiments of the present inventionor may be combined with yet other embodiments, further details of whichcan be seen with reference to the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described embodiments of the invention in general terms,reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1a-1b provide a high level process flow illustrating using areadable indicia clearing house, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 provides a readable indicia clearing house processing systemenvironment, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 provides a readable indicia clearing house system process flow,in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 provides a readable indicia clearing house process flow, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 provides a decision map illustrating an embodiment of thereadable indicia clearing house process, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 provides a decision map illustrating an embodiment of thereadable indicia clearing house process, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 provides a decision map illustrating an embodiment of thereadable indicia clearing house process, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some,but not all, embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, theinvention may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicablelegal requirements. Like numbers refer to elements throughout. Wherepossible, any terms expressed in the singular form herein are meant toalso include the plural form and vice versa, unless explicitly statedotherwise. The term “readable indicia” as used herein may include, butis not limited to a bar code, quick response (QR) code, token, contactconnection, near field connection, contactless connection, and/or thelike. A “merchant” as used herein may refer to a manufacturer, retailer,product provider, service provider, event provider, warehouse, supplier,medical service provider, medical treatment provider and/or the like. A“vendor,” “readable indicia vendor,” or “readable indicia providingvendor” may be any entity that may provide proprietary, specific, oruniversal readable indicia and/or maintain readable indicia fortransaction completion purposes. Furthermore, as used herein, the term“product” shall mean any good, service, event, and/or the like that maybe offered by a merchant.

Further, the embodiments described herein may refer to use of atransaction or transaction event. Unless specifically limited by thecontext, a “transaction” refers to any communication between the userand a merchant, financial institution, insurance company, or otherentity. A “transaction” may also include a bill, statement, purchase ata POT, online purchase, purchase at a merchant, and/or the like. Forexample, in some embodiments, a transaction may include one or more ofthe following: purchasing, renting, leasing, bartering, selling, and/orleasing goods and/or services (e.g., groceries, stamps, tickets, DVDs,vending machine items, or the like); withdrawing cash; making paymentsto creditors (e.g., paying monthly bills; paying federal, state, and/orlocal taxes and/or bills; or the like); sending remittances;transferring balances from one account to another account; loading moneyonto stored value cards (SVCs) and/or prepaid cards; donating tocharities; and/or the like. For example, a transaction may occur when auser purchases a product at a merchant. In yet other embodiments, forexample, a transaction may occur when an entity associated with the useris alerted. A transaction may occur when a user accesses a building,uses a rewards card, and/or performs an account balance query. Atransaction may occur as a user's device establishes a wirelessconnection, such as a Wi-Fi connection, with a point-of-transactionterminal.

In still further embodiments, a transaction may refer to an event and/oraction or group of actions facilitated or performed by a user's device,such as a user's mobile system, a merchant system, and/or a combinationthereof. A device capable of facilitating or performing a transactionmay be referred to herein as a “POT system” or “POT device.” A“point-of-transaction” or “POT” could refer to any location, virtuallocation or otherwise proximate occurrence of a transaction. A POTsystem may refer to any device used to perform a transaction, eitherfrom the user's perspective, the merchant's perspective or both. In someembodiments, the POT system refers only to a user's system, in otherembodiments it refers only to a merchant system, and in yet otherembodiments, it refers to both a user device and a merchant deviceinteracting to perform a transaction. For example, in one embodiment,the POT system refers to the user's mobile device configured tocommunicate with a merchant's system, whereas in other embodiments, thePOT system refers to a merchant's system configured to communicate witha user's mobile device, and in yet other embodiments, the POT systemrefers to both the user's mobile device and the merchant's systemconfigured to communicate with each other to carry out a transaction.

In some embodiments, a POT system is or includes an interactive computerterminal that is configured to initiate, perform, complete, and/orfacilitate one or more transactions. A POT system could be or includeany device that a user may use to perform a transaction with an entity,such as, but not limited to, an ATM, a loyalty device such as a rewardscard, loyalty card or other loyalty device, a magnetic-based paymentdevice (e.g., a credit card, debit card, or the like), a personalidentification number (PIN) payment device, a contactless payment device(e.g., a key fob), a radio frequency identification device (RFID) andthe like, a computer, (e.g., a personal computer, tablet computer,desktop computer, server, laptop, or the like), a mobile device (e.g., asmartphone, cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) device, MP3device, personal GPS device, or the like), a merchant terminal, aself-service machine (e.g., vending machine, self-checkout machine, orthe like), a public and/or business kiosk (e.g., an Internet kiosk,ticketing kiosk, bill pay kiosk, or the like), a gaming device, and/orvarious combinations of the foregoing.

In some embodiments, a POT system is operated in a public place (e.g.,on a street corner, at the doorstep of a private residence, in an openmarket, at a public rest stop, or the like). In other embodiments, thePOT system, is additionally or alternatively operated in a place ofbusiness (e.g., in a retail store, post office, banking center, grocerystore, factory floor, or the like). In accordance with some embodiments,the POT system is not owned by the user of the POT system. Rather, insome embodiments, the POT system is owned by a mobile business operatoror a POT operator (e.g., merchant, vendor, salesperson, or the like). Inyet other embodiments, the POT system is owned by the financialinstitution offering the POT system providing functionality inaccordance with embodiments of the invention described herein.

FIG. 1a provides a high level process flow illustrating using a readableindicia clearing house 100, which will be discussed in further detailthroughout this specification with respect to FIGS. 2 through 7. Thefirst step in the process 100, as illustrated in block 102 is todetermine the readable indicia providing vendors. In some embodiments,the system may continuously monitor for new readable indicia providingvendors. In some embodiments, the readable indicia providing vendors maycommunicate with the system to determine that the entity is a readableindicia providing vendor. As illustrated in block 104, the next step inthe process 100 is to recognize readable indicia provided by eachvendor. In this way, the system may determine the vendor and each of thereadable indicia of the vendor. Along with recognizing each readableindicia from the various vendors, the system may identify uniquecharacteristics such as codes, numbers, sequences, embeds, or the likeassociated with the readable indicia of each vendor. This way, not onlywould the entire readable indicia be able to be recognized as belongingto a specific vendor, partial illustrations of a readable indicia mayalso be recognizable.

As illustrated in block 106, the system may then store the dataassociated with the readable indicia from each of the vendors. In thisway, when the system receives unknown readable indicia, the system maybe able to review the stored readable indicia from each vendor and assuch may be able to recognize and/or replicate the readable indicia, ifnecessary. As illustrated in block 108, the next step in the process 100is to provide a clearing house for readable indicia based on the storeddata associated with the readable indicia. In this way, when theclearing house receives data such as a readable indicia, partialreadable indicia, and/or a request for a readable indicia, theinformation associated with the received data may allow the clearinghouse to direct the received data to/from the appropriate readableindicia providing vendor.

FIG. 1b provides another embodiment of a high level process flowillustrating using a readable indicia clearing house 900. Similar toFIG. 1a , the first step in the process 900, as illustrated in block 902is to determine the readable indicia providing vendors. As illustratedin block 904, the next step in the process 900 is to recognize readableindicia provided by each vendor. In this way, the system may determinethe vendor and each of the readable indicia of the vendor. Along withrecognizing each readable indicia from the various vendors, the clearinghouse may identify unique characteristics such as codes, numbers,sequences, embeds, or the like associated with the readable indicia ofeach vendor. This way, not only would the entire readable indicia beable to be recognized as belonging to a specific vendor, partialillustrations of a readable indicia may also be recognizable. Asillustrated in block 906, the clearing house may then store the dataassociated with the readable indicia from each of the vendors. Next, asillustrated in block 908, the clearing house will provide, upon request,a universal readable indicia to a user or merchant that the clearinghouse may be able to use and direct data associated with the scanneduniversal readable indicia to any of the readable indicia providingvendors. In this way, the clearing house may create a readable indiciathat may be read and/or scanned by any reader device, such that nomatter the transaction, a user may be able to utilize a readable indiciafor the transaction.

As illustrated in block 910, the clearing house may receive anindication that a merchant or user scanned the universal readableindicia. The clearing house may receive information associated with thescan, including but not limited to the location of the transaction,information about the merchant and user associated with the transaction,and/or the like. Next, as illustrated in block 912 the clearing housemay determine an appropriate readable indicia providing vendor to directthe transaction to based at least in part on the merchant or user scanand the information obtained in block 910. In this way, the clearinghouse may connect the merchant and/or user with the appropriate vendorthat may be able to complete the transaction. For example, a user mayhave an account with Vendor 1 and wish to complete a transaction with amerchant using a readable indicia. The merchant may not know that theuser has an account with Vendor 1 and as such present the user with auniversal readable indicia. Once scanned, the information associatedwith the scan may be received by the clearing house. The clearing housemay determine that the user has an account with Vendor 1 based on thescan. As such, the clearing house may provide the transactioninformation from the scan to Vendor 1 to complete the transaction.

FIG. 2 provides a readable indicia clearing house processing systemenvironment 200, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the clearing house server 208 isoperatively coupled, via a network 201 to the user device 204, to thereadable indicia vendor system 210, and to the merchant system 206. Inthis way, the clearing house server 208 can send information to andreceive information from the user device 204, readable indicia vendorsystem 210, and the merchant system 206 to provide a clearing house fordirecting readable indicia to/from merchants, users, and/or vendors. Inthis way, the system may receiving, reading, creating, distribute, andcommunicate readable indicia to/from merchants, users, and vendors. Inthis way, merchants, users, and vendors may all be able to recognize,read, and complete transactions using any readable indicia, irrespectiveof the vendor providing the readable indicia. As such, any readableindicia may be used, recognized, or read to complete a transaction. FIG.2 illustrates only one example of an embodiment of a readable indiciaclearing house processing system environment 200, and it will beappreciated that in other embodiments one or more of the systems,devices, or servers may be combined into a single system, device, orserver, or be made up of multiple systems, devices, or servers.

The network 201 may be a global area network (GAN), such as theInternet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or anyother type of network or combination of networks. The network 201 mayprovide for wireline, wireless, or a combination wireline and wirelesscommunication between devices on the network.

In some embodiments, the user 202 is an individual making a transaction.The transaction may be made at a merchant system 206 of a merchant,online or offline, at the merchant's place of business, statementreceived, and/or other transaction means. Furthermore, the user 202 mayuse his/her user device 204, such as a mobile device, mobile wallet(e.g. smart phone, PDA, or the like) or other types of payment systemthat may communicate with merchant system 206 or the clearing houseserver 208 to allow the user 202 to complete a transaction. Furthermore,in some embodiments, the user 202 may be a merchant or a person,employee, agent, independent contractor, or the like acting on behalf ofthe merchant to enter into a transaction.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the clearing house server 208 generallycomprises a communication device 246, a processing device 248, and amemory device 250. As used herein, the term “processing device”generally includes circuitry used for implementing the communicationand/or logic functions of the particular system. For example, aprocessing device may include a digital signal processor device, amicroprocessor device, and various analog-to-digital converters,digital-to-analog converters, and other support circuits and/orcombinations of the foregoing. Control and signal processing functionsof the system are allocated between these processing devices accordingto their respective capabilities. The processing device may includefunctionality to operate one or more software programs based oncomputer-readable instructions thereof, which may be stored in a memorydevice.

The processing device 248 is operatively coupled to the communicationdevice 246 and the memory device 250. The processing device 248 uses thecommunication device 246 to communicate with the network 201 and otherdevices on the network 201, such as, but not limited to the merchantsystem 206, readable indicia vendor system 210, and the user device 204.As such, the communication device 246 generally comprises a modem,server, or other device for communicating with other devices on thenetwork 201.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the clearing house server 208comprises computer-readable instructions 254 stored in the memory device250, which in one embodiment includes the computer-readable instructions254 of a clearing house application 258. In some embodiments, the memorydevice 250 includes data storage 252 for storing data related to theclearing house application 258 including but not limited to datacreated, stored, and/or used by the clearing house application 258.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 and described throughout much ofthis specification, the clearing house application 258 allows for thereceiving, reading, creating, and communicating of readable indiciato/from merchants, users, and vendors.

In some embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may receivereadable indicia from merchants and/or readable indicia vendors. In thisway, in some embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may be ableto request readable indicia from readable indicia vendor systems 210,merchant systems 206, and/or user devices 204. In other embodiments, theclearing house application 258 may receive, without requesting, readableindicia from readable indicia vendor systems 210, merchant systems 206,and/or user devices 204. Once the readable indicia is received,irrespective of the source, the clearing house application 258 may storethe readable indicia, the vendor associated with the readable indicia,and data associated with the readable indicia, such as codes,identifications, sequences, or the like in the memory device 250 of theclearing house server 208.

In some embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may store thereceived readable indicia in the memory device 250. In this way, thestored readable indicia and information associated with the readableindicia may be used to later identify and read readable indicia receivedat the clearing house server 208.

In some embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may have theability to read any readable indicia. As such, any universal readableindicia, vender specific readable indicia, proprietary readable indicia,partial readable indicia, or the like may be read by the clearing houseapplication 258. The clearing house application 258 may be able torecognize and read partial images, scans, or the like of readableindicia, such as partial portions of a QR code, bar code, numeric code,or the like. As such, the clearing house application 258 may recognizethe readable indicia from any vendor. Thus, identify the vendorassociated with any readable indicia.

In some embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may createreadable indicia. In this way, the clearing house application 258 maycreate universal readable indicia that may be scanned by any user device204 and/or merchant system 206. In this way, the clearing houseapplication 258 may then be able to take the scanned information fromthe created universal readable indicia to tailor it to be accepted byany vendor, such that a transaction may be able to be completed usingany readable indicia vendor.

In some embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may communicateinformation associated with a readable indicia and/or a readable indiciaacross the network to the readable indicia vendor system 210, themerchant system 206, or the user device 204. Furthermore, the clearinghouse application 258 may also link various devices on the network 201to allow for direct communication between the various devices.

In some embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may providemerchants or users readable indicia from one or more readable indiciavendors based on a request from the merchant or user 202. In this waythe clearing house application 258 may communicate readable indicia fromthe readable indicia vendor systems 210 to one or more of the merchantsystem 206 or the user device 204, via the network 201. In someembodiments, the merchant or user may request readable indicia from aspecific vendor. In this way, the clearing house application 258 mayreceive the request and obtain a readable indicia from the specificvendor of the request. The clearing house application 258 maysubsequently communicate the readable indicia to the user 202 ormerchant. In other embodiments, the clearing house application 258 maydetermine the appropriate readable indicia vendor. The clearing houseapplication 258 may determine the appropriate readable indicia based onthe request from the merchant or user. The request may includeinformation that may allow the clearing house application 258 todetermine readable indicia vendors that would be able to authorize thetransaction. In this way, the user 202 or merchant may have an accountwith one or more of the vendors or have another association with thevendor such that the merchant system 206 or user device 204 may be ableto read and/or recognize readable indicia from a specific vendor. Oncethe clearing house application 258 determines the appropriate vendor,the clearing house application 258 may obtain a readable indicia fromthe appropriate vendor. The clearing house application 258 maysubsequently communicate the readable indicia to the user 202 ormerchant.

In other embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may recognizereadable indicia received from a user device 204 or merchant system 206and determine the appropriate vendor associated with the indicia. Assuch, the clearing house application 258 may receive a readable indiciafrom a user 202 or merchant. This may be via a communication from a userdevice 204 or the merchant system 206 through the network 201. Thereadable indicia may be used between the user 202 and the merchant tocomplete a transaction, such as payment by the user 202 for the productsof the transaction. The user 202 or the merchant may send the readableindicia to the clearing house application 258. The clearing houseapplication 258 may recognize the received readable indicia as well asdetermine information associated with the transaction based on thecommunication from the user 202 or merchant. As such, the clearing houseapplication 258 may determine the vendor from which the readable indiciawas originally created. The clearing house application 258 may thencommunicate the recognized readable indicia to the readable indiciavendor system 210. For example, a user 202 may present a QR code to amerchant as payment for a transaction. The merchant may not know thevendor associated with the QR code nor may the merchant be able to readthe data associated with the QR code. As such, the merchant may send theQR code to the clearing house application 258, such that the clearinghouse application 258 may determine the vendor associated with thepresented QR code. The clearing house application 258 may then notifythe appropriate readable indicia vendor system 210 and, in someembodiments, provide an intermediary for communication between thevendor and the merchant to finalize the transaction. In this way, theclearing house application 258 may translate signals and/orcommunications between the various entities such that the datacommunicated may be in the appropriate format for the other to read. Inother embodiments, the clearing house application 258 may communicablylink the readable indicia vendor system 210 with the user device 204and/or the merchant system 206 such that those systems may directlycommunicate to complete the transaction.

In some embodiments, the invention may provide a universal readableindicia that the invention may later be able to convert to one or moreindicia accepted by a vendor. In this way, the clearing houseapplication 258 may receive an indication that a user 202 may wish tocomplete a transaction with a merchant using a readable indicia. Assuch, the clearing house application 258 may provide a universalreadable indicia to a user 202 or merchant that the clearing houseapplication 258 may direct to any of the vendors. The universal readableindicia may be read by any reader, scanner, or the like. As such, theuniversal readable indicia may be scanned and recognized by any userdevice 204 and/or merchant system 206. In some embodiments, the clearinghouse application 258 may create a readable indicia that may be readand/or scanned by any reader device, such that no matter thetransaction, a user 202 or merchant may be able to utilize a readableindicia for the transaction.

When the clearing house application 258 receives an indication that amerchant or user 202 has scanned the universal readable indicia, theclearing house application 258 receives information associated with thescan, including but not limited to the location of the transaction,information about the merchant and user associated with the transaction,and/or the like. Next, the clearing house application 258 may determinean appropriate readable indicia providing vendor to direct thetransaction to, based at least in part on the merchant or user 202 scanand the information obtained from the scan. Once the clearing houseapplication 258 determines the appropriate readable indicia providingvendor, the clearing house application 258 may communicate via thenetwork 201 to the readable indicia vendor system 210. The appropriatereadable indicia providing vendor may be the vendor that the user 202 ormerchant may have an account with, may have a user device 204 ormerchant system 206 that may be able to recognize or communicate with.In this way, the clearing house application 258 may connect the merchantsystem 206 and/or the user 202 (via the user device 204) with theappropriate readable indicia vendor system 210 that may be able tocomplete the transaction.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the merchant system 206 generally comprises areading device 235, a presentment device 237, a communication device236, a processing device 238, and a memory device 240. The readingdevice 235 is operatively coupled to the processing device 238,communication device 236, and the memory device 240. The merchant system206 may include a reader device 235 to receive and/or provide readableindicia to/from the user 202 through the user device 204 and/or otherpotential user 202 payment devices. Such a reader device 235 mayinclude, but is not limited to a magnetic strip reader, a bar codescanner, a radio frequency (RF) reader, a character recognition device,a magnetic ink reader, an NFC reading device, a processor forinterpreting codes presented over an electrical or optical medium, abiometric reader, a wireless receiving device, and/or the like.

The merchant system 206 may also comprise a presentment device 237. Thepresentment device 237 may present the readable indicia to a user 202during a transaction. A person of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the presentment device 237 may be a standalone device,may be incorporated into the merchant system 206 (such as in the readerdevice 235), and/or the like. The presentment device 237 may include ascreen presentment, reflection presentment, augmented image presentment,touchless communication, touch communication, or other medium that maybe viewable and/or scannable.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the merchant system 206 comprisescomputer-readable instructions 242 stored in the memory device 240,which in one embodiment includes the computer-readable instructions 242of a merchant application 244. A merchant system 206 may refer to anydevice that may be configured to carry out a transaction.

In some embodiments, a merchant system 206 is or includes an interactivecomputer terminal that is configured to initiate, perform, complete,and/or facilitate one or more transactions, as well as communicatereadable indicia to and from the other systems of the network. Amerchant system 206 could be or include any means that a user 202 mayuse to perform a transaction with an merchant, such as, but not limitedto, an ATM, a loyalty device such as a rewards card, loyalty card orother loyalty device, a magnetic-based payment device (e.g., a creditcard, debit card, or the like), a personal identification number (PIN)payment device, a contactless payment device (e.g., a key fob), a radiofrequency identification device (RFID) and the like, a computer, (e.g.,a personal computer, tablet computer, desktop computer, server, laptop,or the like), a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone, cellular phone,personal digital assistant (PDA) device, MP3 device, personal GPSdevice, or the like), a merchant terminal, a self-service machine (e.g.,vending machine, self-checkout machine, or the like), a public and/orbusiness kiosk (e.g., an Internet kiosk, ticketing kiosk, bill paykiosk, or the like), a gaming device, and/or various combinations of theforegoing.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the merchant application 244allows the merchant system 206 to be communicably linked to the clearinghouse server 208 and other devices on the network 201 to communicate,via a network 201, an indication that the user 202 is at a merchantsystem 206, receive presented readable indicia, present readable indiciato a user 202, and provide information related to the transaction beingmade.

In some embodiments, the merchant application 224 may provide the otherdevices with an indication that the user 202 is at a POT and initiatinga transaction with a merchant. The indication that a user 202 is at amerchant system 206 may be communicated when the user 202 approaches thePOT, when a product is initially scanned at a POT, when the user 202scans the indicia, when the user 202 is sent a statement, and/or whenthe user 202 provides a payment method for purchase of the products ofthe transaction.

In some embodiments, the merchant application 224 may receive presentedreadable indicia. In this way, the user 202 may present a readableindicia with his/her user device 204 at the merchant. In this way, themerchant application 224 may be able to receive the presented readableindicia, such that the received readable indicia may be communicated tothe clearing house server 208.

In some embodiments, the merchant application 244 may present indicia tothe user 202. In some embodiments, the indicia may be presentedinitially to indicate that a user 202 is initiating a transaction at aPOT. In this way, a communication link is formed between the systemssuch that the user 202 may be sent information associate with thetransaction and the readable indicia from the clearing house server 208and/or the readable indicia vendor system 210 to his/her user device204. In some embodiments, the indicia may be presented based on theproducts of the transaction or the appropriate vendor. The readableindicia may be sent to the merchant application 244 from the clearinghouse server 208 for the user 202 to scan from the presentment device237. The readable indicia may, in some embodiments, provide, within theindicia, information associate with the transaction, or the like.

FIG. 2 also illustrates a user device 204. The user device 204 isoperatively coupled to the readable indicia vendor system 210, themerchant system 206, and the clearing house server 208 through thenetwork 201. The user device 204 has systems with devices the same orsimilar to the devices described for the readable indicia vendor system210, the merchant system 206, and the clearing house server 208 (i.e., acommunication device, a processing device, and a memory device).Therefore, the user device 204 communicates with the readable indiciavendor system 210, the merchant system 206, and the clearing houseserver 208 in the same or similar way as previously described withrespect to each system. The user device 204, in some embodiments, iscomprised of systems and devices that allow the user 202 to send and/orread readable indicia such that the user 202 may be able to complete atransaction using the readable indicia via the user device 204. A “userdevice” 204 may be any mobile communication device, such as a cellulartelecommunications device (e.g., a cell phone or mobile phone), personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile Internet accessing device, or othermobile device including, but not limited to portable digital assistants(PDAs), pagers, mobile televisions, gaming devices, laptop computers,cameras, video recorders, audio/video player, radio, GPS devices, anycombination of the aforementioned, or the like. Although only a singleuser device 204 is depicted in FIG. 2, the system environment 200 maycontain numerous user devices 204.

In some embodiments, the user device 204 allows a user 202 to scanand/or recognize a readable indicia. The user 202 may scan the indiciausing the camera functionality, scanning functionality, or the like ofhis/her user device 204. The user device 2-4 may then recognize thereadable indicia and/or the information associate with the readableindicia. Upon recognition of the readable indicia, the user device 204may, in some embodiments, present the user 202 with informationassociate with transaction via an interface associated with the userdevice 204. In other embodiments, upon recognition of the indicia theuser device 204 may communicate with the clearing house server 208 totransmit user 202 data and receive available information associate withthe transaction.

In some embodiments, the user device 204 may decode the indicia that wasscanned. In some embodiments, the user device 204 may decode the indiciathat includes information associate with the transaction. In this way,upon decoding the indicia, the user device 204 may present informationassociate with the transaction to the user 202 via an interfaceassociated with the user device 204. In other embodiments, the userdevice 204 may decode the indicia to find instructions to communicatewith the clearing house server 208. In this way, upon decoding theindicia, the user device 204 may communicate with the clearing houseserver 208.

Once the indicia is decoded, the user device 204 may present theinformation associate with transaction to the user 202 and/or theclearing house server 208.

Finally, the user device 204 may communicate readable indicia to systemson the network 201. The readable indicia may be communicated to theclearing house server 208, the readable indicia vendor system 210,and/or the merchant system 206 via the network 201. The readable indiciamay be applied to the transaction the user 202 is currently enteringinto and/or future transactions.

FIG. 2 also illustrates a readable indicia vendor system 210. Thereadable indicia vendor system 210 is operatively coupled to the userdevice 204, the merchant system 206, and the clearing house server 208through the network 201. The readable indicia vendor system 210 hassystems with devices the same or similar to the devices described forthe user device 204, the merchant system 206, and the clearing houseserver 208 (i.e., a communication device, a processing device, and amemory device). Therefore, the readable indicia vendor system 210communicates with the user device 204, the merchant system 206, and theclearing house server 208 in the same or similar way as previouslydescribed with respect to each system. The readable indicia vendorsystem 210, in some embodiments, is comprised of systems and devicesthat allow a vendor to send and/or retrieve readable indicia such thatthe vendor may be able to complete a transaction using the readableindicia for a user 202. Although only a single readable indicia vendorsystem 210 is depicted in FIG. 2, the system environment 200 may containnumerous readable indicia vendor systems 210.

In some embodiments, the readable indicia vendor system 210 may be thesystems associated with the vendors that provide, manage, create, ordevelop the readable indicia that the user 202 or merchant may use tocomplete a transaction.

The servers, systems, and devices described herein may also communicatewith various other servers, systems, and devices not illustrated herein.As such, the servers, systems, and devices may communicate withinsurance company servers, payment processing servers, or the like.

It is understood that the servers, systems, and devices described hereinillustrate one embodiment of the invention. It is further understoodthat one or more of the servers, systems, and devices can be combined inother embodiments and still function in the same or similar way as theembodiments described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates a readable indicia clearing house system process flow700, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Theclearing house 702 allows for directing readable indicia to/frommerchants, users 202, and/or vendors. As such, any readable indicia maybe used, recognized, or read to complete a transaction. In someembodiments, the clearing house 702 may allow a readable indicia vendorsystem 210 to directly communicate with a merchant system 206 and/or auser device 204. As such, the clearing house may receive and/or create areadable indicia 708 that may allow the clearing house 702 to create acommunication link between a vendor, merchant, and/or user 202 such thata transaction may be completed using a readable indicia.

In some embodiments, the clearing house 702 may receive a readableindica 710 from a merchant system 206 and/or a user device 204. In thisway, the clearing house 702 may recognize the readable indicia 710 anddetermine the appropriate readable indicia vendor system 210 based onthe readable indicia 710 and data associated with the same. In this way,the clearing house 702 determined the appropriate readable indiciavendor system 210 and created a communication channel 704 between thereadable indicia vendor system 210 such that the clearing house 702 mayact, in some embodiments, as an intermediary for communication betweenthe two systems to complete the transaction. In some embodiments, theclearing house 702 may allow for a direct communication link between thesystems.

In some embodiments, the clearing house 702 may pull readable indicia712, 714 from readable indicia vendor systems 210. In some embodiments,the readable indicia 712, 714 may be pulled based on selection from theuser or merchant, or may be selected by the clearing house 702. In thisway, a communication channel 704 may be created such that the selectedreadable indicia 712, 714 may be directed to the merchant system 206and/or user device 204.

FIG. 4 illustrates a readable indicia clearing house process flow 400,in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The readableindicia clearing house 402 stores data associated with the readableindicia from one or more readable indicia vendors, as illustrated inblock 404. Once the readable indicia clearing house 402 stores dataassociated with readable indicia and readable indicia the readableindicia clearing house 402 may direct readable indicia and informationassociated with the readable indicia to/from readable indicia vendors,merchants, and users 202, as illustrated in block 405.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in block 406, the readable indiciaclearing house 402 may provide merchants or users 202 with readableindicia from one or more readable indicia vendors. In this way, thereadable indicia clearing house 402 may receive an indication that amerchant or a user 202 wishes to receive a readable indicia to finish atransaction. The readable indicia clearing house 402 may determine theappropriate readable indicia and the appropriate vendor for thetransaction and communicate with that vendor. In turn, the readableindicia clearing house 402 may then receive a readable indicia from theappropriate vendor and communicate that readable indicia to the merchantor user.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in block 408 the readable indiciaclearing house 402 may recognize readable indicia received as being froma specific readable indicia vendor. In this way, the readable indiciamay be communicated to the readable indicia clearing house 402. Thereadable indicia clearing house 402 may determine the vendor associatedwith the indicia based on the information received, such as codes,sequences, features, or the like. In this way, a merchant and/or user202 may have used a readable indicia to complete a transactionirrespective of the vendor that the readable indicia is associated with.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in block 410 the readable indiciaclearing house 402 may provide a universal readable indicia that thereadable indicia clearing house 402 may later be able to convert to oneor more indicia accepted by a vendor. The universal readable indicia maybe provided to a user 202 or merchant to complete a transaction. In thisway, a user 202 may wish to complete a transaction with his/her userdevice 204, such as a mobile phone or the like with a merchant. Thereadable indicia clearing house 402 may present the merchant with auniversal readable indicia for user 202 to scan. In turn, the merchantmay present the universal readable indicia to a user 202 to complete thetransaction. Upon scanning of the universal readable indicia thereadable indicia clearing house 402 may receive information associatedwith the scan from the merchant and/or the user 202. Based on the scan,the system may determine a vendor that the user 202 and/or merchant mayrecognize in order to complete the transaction.

FIG. 5 provides a decision map illustrating an embodiment of thereadable indicia clearing house process 500, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in decision block502 the user 202 may decide to transaction with a merchant. If the user202 decides not to transact with the merchant, the process 500 isterminated. If the user 202 wishes to transaction with the merchant, theuser 202 may wish to complete the transaction with a user device, asillustrated in decision block 506. If the user 202 decides not totransact using his/her mobile device, the process 500 is terminated. Ifthe user 202 decides to complete the transaction with his/her userdevice in decision block 506, the user 202 may then request readableindicia from a specific vendor. The request may come from the user 202via his/her user device and/or the POT associated with the merchant. Assuch, the system may receive an indication from the merchant as to thereadable indicia vendor the user 202 has authorized, as illustrated inblock 508. The indication may include information that may allow thesystem to determine readable indicia vendors that would be able toauthorize the transaction. In this way, the user 202 or merchant mayhave an account with one or more of the vendors or have anotherassociation with the vendor such that the merchant or user 202 may beable to read and/or recognize readable indicia from a specific vendor.

Once the user 202 has selected an authorized readable indicia vendor,the system may also receive an indication of the details of thetransaction, as illustrated in block 510. These details may include oneor more of the products of the transaction, the price associated withthe transaction, and/or the like.

Next, the system may communicate with the authorized readable indiciavendor to confirm and/or determine the appropriate readable indiciavendor, as illustrated in block 512. Once confirmed, the system maycommunicate with the authorized readable indicia vendor, as illustratedin block 514. In this way, the system may open a communication linkbetween the vendor, user 202, and/or the merchant, such that atransaction may be completed between the user 202 and the merchant.

Next, as illustrated in block 516, the system may request the readableindicia from the authorized readable indicia vendor based on the detailsof the transaction. In this way, the user 202 and/or the merchant may beable to read and/or communicate based on the readable indicia from theauthorized vendor.

As such, the system may provide the merchant with the readable indiciafrom the authorized readable indicia vendor, as illustrated in block518. In this way, the system may have provided the vendor with thedetails of the transaction and been provided a readable indicia from thevendor and/or created a readable indicia associated with the authorizedvendor based on the transaction details. The readable indicia may havethen been provided to the merchant, as illustrated in block 518.

Next, as illustrated in block 518, the system may provide the merchantwith the readable indicia from the authorized readable indicia vendorand/or the created readable indicia. In this way, the readable indiciaprovided to the merchant may be readable and/or scannable by each of themerchant and the user 202 such that the transaction may be completed, asillustrated in block 520. In this way, the transaction may be completedusing the readable indicia that has been authorized by the user 202 suchthat the user 202, merchant, and vendor may be in communication tofinalize the transaction. As such, even if the merchant that the user202 is transacting with does not have the capabilities of accessing theauthorized vendor, the system may be able to access the appropriatevendor and allow for a link to complete the transaction.

FIG. 6 provides a decision map illustrating an embodiment of thereadable indicia clearing house process 600, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment ofthe invention wherein the system may recognize readable indicia receivedfrom a user 202 or merchant and determine the appropriate vendorassociated with the indicia such that the system may provide acommunication link between the merchant or user 202 and the appropriatevendor such that the transaction may be completed with any presentedreadable indicia.

As illustrated in decision block 602 the user 202 may decide totransaction with a merchant. If the user 202 decides not to transactwith the merchant, the process 600 is terminated. If the user 202 wishesto transaction with the merchant, the user 202 may wish to complete thetransaction with a user device. If the user 202 decides to complete thetransaction with his/her user device, the user 202 may present areadable indicia to the merchant, as illustrated in decision block 606.If the user 202 does not present a readable indicia to the merchant, theprocess 600 is terminated. If the user 202 does present a readableindicia to a merchant, the system may receive the presented readableindicia from the merchant once presented by the user 202, as illustratedin block 608. In this way, the system may receive a readable indiciafrom a user 202 or merchant. Once the readable indicia is received, thesystem may recognize the readable indicia and/or the informationassociated with the readable indicia, as illustrated in block 610.

Next, as illustrated in block 612, the system may recognize the receivedreadable indicia as well as determine information associated with thetransaction based on the communication from the user 202 or merchant. Assuch, the system may determine the vendor from which the readableindicia was originally created or associated with. As illustrated inblock 614, the system may then communicate with a readable indiciavendor regarding the presented readable indicia. As such, the system mayhave recognized the presented readable indicia and communicated with thevendor associated with the readable indicia.

For example, a user 202 may present a QR code to a merchant as paymentfor a transaction. The merchant may not know the vendor associated withthe QR code nor may the merchant be able to read the data associatedwith the QR code. As such, the merchant may send the QR code to thesystem, such that the system may determine the vendor associated withthe presented QR code. The system may then notify the appropriate vendorand as illustrated in block 616 allow for the transaction to becompleted using the presented readable indicia.

FIG. 7 provides a decision map illustrating an embodiment of thereadable indicia clearing house process 800, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment ofthe invention that may provide a universal readable indicia that thesystem may later be able to convert to one or more indicia accepted by avendor. In this way, the system may receive an indication that a user202 may wish to complete a transaction with a merchant using a readableindicia. As such, the system may provide a universal readable indicia toa user 202 or merchant that the system may direct to any of the vendors.The universal readable indicia may be read by any reader, scanner, orthe like. As such, the universal readable indicia may be scanned andrecognized by any user device 204 and/or merchant system 206. In someembodiments, the clearing house application 258 may create a readableindicia that may be read and/or scanned by any reader device, such thatno matter the transaction, a user 202 or merchant may be able to utilizea readable indicia for the transaction.

As illustrated in decision block 802 the user 202 may decide totransaction with a merchant. If the user 202 decides not to transactwith the merchant, the process 800 is terminated. If the user 202 wishesto transaction with the merchant, the user 202 may wish to complete thetransaction with a user device, as illustrated in block 806. If the user202 does not decide to complete the transaction with his/her user devicethe process may be terminated. If the user 202 decides to complete atransaction with a user device, in decision block 806, the merchant maysend a request to receive a universal readable indicia from the system,as illustrated in block 808. Next, as illustrated in block 810, thesystem may provide a universal readable indicia to a user 202 ormerchant that the system may be able to use and direct data associatedwith the scanned universal readable indicia to any of the readableindicia providing vendors. In this way, the system may create a readableindicia that may be read and/or scanned by any reader device, such thatno matter the transaction, a user may be able to utilize a readableindicia for the transaction.

As illustrated in decision block 812, the user 202 may be presented withthe universal readable indicia at the merchant. If the user 202 is notpresented with the indicia, then the process 800 is terminated. If theuser 202 is presented with the universal readable indicia at themerchant, the system may receive an indication that the user 202 scannedthe universal readable indicia and information associated with thetransaction, as illustrated in block 814. The system may receiveinformation associated with the scan, including but not limited to thelocation of the transaction, information about the merchant and user 202associated with the transaction, and/or the like. Next, as illustratedin block 816, the system may determine an appropriate readable indiciaproviding vendor to direct the transaction to based at least in part onthe merchant or user scan and the information obtained. In someembodiments, this information may include information associated withthe user device 204 such as specific codes, numbers, or otheridentifiers. In this way, the system may connect the merchant and/oruser 202 with the appropriate vendor that may be able to complete thetransaction. In some embodiments, the user 202 may have an associationwith one vendor. In other embodiments, the user 202 may have anassociated with more than one vendor. If the system detects more thanone vendor associated with the user 202 or merchant, the system maypresent the user 202 with options as to which vendor he/she wishes todirect the transaction to. In this way, the user 202 may select viahis/her user device 204 which vendor to direct the readable indicia toand finalize the transaction with.

As illustrated in block 818, the system may communicate informationassociated with the transaction to the appropriate readable indiciavendor. Finally, as illustrated in block 820 once the informationassociated with the scan is communicated to the appropriate readableindicia vendor, the system may allow for the transaction to becompleted. In this way, the system may provide a communication link forthe vendor and merchant or user 202 to communicate. In otherembodiments, the system may allow for a direct communication between thevendor and the user or merchant.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied as an apparatus (including, for example, asystem, a machine, a device, a computer program product, and/or thelike), as a method (including, for example, a business process, acomputer-implemented process, and/or the like), or as any combination ofthe foregoing. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention maytake the form of an entirely software embodiment (including firmware,resident software, micro-code, or the like), an entirely hardwareembodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspectsthat may generally be referred to herein as a “system.” Furthermore,embodiments of the present invention may take the form of a computerprogram product that includes a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-executable program code portions stored therein. As usedherein, a processor may be “configured to” perform a certain function ina verity of ways, including, for example, by having one or moregeneral-purpose circuits perform the functions by executing one or morecomputer-executable program code portions embodied in acomputer-readable medium, and/or having one or more application-specificcircuits perform the function.

It will be understood that any suitable computer-readable medium may beutilized. The computer-readable medium may include, but is not limitedto, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a tangibleelectronic, magnetic, optical, infrared, electromagnetic, and/orsemiconductor system, apparatus, and/or device. For example, in someembodiments, the non-transitory computer-readable medium includes atangible medium such as a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a compact discread-only memory (CD-ROM), and/or some other tangible optical and/ormagnetic storage device. In other embodiments of the present invention,however, the computer-readable medium may be transitory, such as apropagation signal including computer-executable program code portionsembodied therein.

It will also be understood that one or more computer-executable programcode portions for carrying out operations of the present invention mayinclude object-oriented, scripted, and/or unscripted programminglanguages, such as, for example, Java, Perl, Smalltalk, C++, SAS, SQL,Python, Objective C, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the one ormore computer-executable program code portions for carrying outoperations of embodiments of the present invention are written inconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming languages and/or similar programming languages. The computerprogram code may alternatively or additionally be written in one or moremulti-paradigm programming languages, such as, for example, F#.

It will further be understood that some embodiments of the presentinvention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrationsand/or block diagrams of systems, methods, and/or computer programproducts. It will be understood that each block included in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks included in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams,may be implemented by one or more computer-executable program codeportions. These one or more computer-executable program code portionsmay be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, and/or some other programmable data processingapparatus in order to produce a particular machine, such that the one ormore computer-executable program code portions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer and/or other programmable data processingapparatus, create mechanisms for implementing the steps and/or functionsrepresented by the flowchart(s) and/or block diagram block(s).

It will also be understood that the one or more computer-executableprogram code portions may be stored in a transitory or non-transitorycomputer-readable medium (e.g., a memory, or the like) that can direct acomputer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to functionin a particular manner, such that the computer-executable program codeportions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article ofmanufacture including instruction mechanisms which implement the stepsand/or functions specified in the flowchart(s) and/or block diagramblock(s).

The one or more computer-executable program code portions may also beloaded onto a computer and/or other programmable data processingapparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on thecomputer and/or other programmable apparatus. In some embodiments, thisproduces a computer-implemented process such that the one or morecomputer-executable program code portions which execute on the computerand/or other programmable apparatus provide operational steps toimplement the steps specified in the flowchart(s) and/or the functionsspecified in the block diagram block(s). Alternatively,computer-implemented steps may be combined with operator and/orhuman-implemented steps in order to carry out an embodiment of thepresent invention.

While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments aremerely illustrative of, and not restrictive on, the broad invention, andthat this invention not be limited to the specific constructions andarrangements shown and described, since various other changes,combinations, omissions, modifications and substitutions, in addition tothose set forth in the above paragraphs, are possible. Those skilled inthe art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications ofthe just described embodiments can be configured without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understoodthat, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may bepracticed other than as specifically described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for creating andprocessing readable indicia for payment codes, the method comprising:receiving, through a distributive network having a processor device froma merchant device of a merchant, the readable indicia comprisinginformation to complete a transaction between a user and the merchant,and information including an identity of a vendor among a plurality ofvendors that created the readable indicia wherein the vendor is capableof authorizing the transaction via the merchant device scanning of thereadable indicia, and wherein the merchant device is incapable ofreading the received readable indicia from the vendor, wherein themerchant device received the readable indicia from a user via a mobiledevice of the user; identifying the vendor capable of authorizing thetransaction, from among the plurality of vendors, by identifying datafeeds processed by the processing device from the distributive networkbased on the received readable indicia; in response to identifying thevendor, creating, by the processing device, a universal readable indiciafor the transaction between the user and the merchant, wherein themerchant device is capable of scanning the universal readable indiciaand the vendor is capable of authorizing the transaction using theuniversal readable indicia; providing the user, via the mobile deviceassociated with the user, the universal readable indicia to complete thetransaction between the user and the merchant, wherein the merchantdevice scans the universal readable indicia from the mobile device; inresponse to the merchant device scanning the universal readable indicia,creating a communicable link that allows for relaying and convertingcommunications into compatible communications for and between the vendorand the merchant, thereby allowing incompatible systems associated withthe vendor and the merchant to communicate via the distributive networkto complete the transaction that could not be otherwise completed basedon incompatibility between a system associated with the merchant and asystem associated with the vendor; and finalizing the transactionbetween the user and the merchant by allowing the system associated withthe vendor to authorize the transaction via the communicable link. 2.The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the system of thevendor provides the user's mobile device with a payment account, suchthat the transaction can be completed using the payment accountassociated with the vendor.
 3. The computer implemented method of claim1 further comprising: retrieving available readable indicia associatedwith the vendor; and storing the available readable indicia associatedwith the vendor, information about the vendor, and data associated withthe available readable indicia such that the vendor associated with eachof the available readable indicia is identifiable based on a partialreading of the available readable indicia.
 4. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1 further comprising: allowing for processing of thetransaction using the universal readable indicia, such that the vendorassociated with the universal readable indicia authorizes thetransaction; and creating a direct communication link between the vendorand the merchant of the transaction.
 5. The computer implemented methodof claim 1, wherein determining the vendor further comprises:determining information related to a user mobile device associated withthe readable indicia; and communicating with the plurality of vendors todetermine if the vendor-user is associated with the vendor, whereindetermining if the vendor-user is associated with the vendor of theplurality of vendors is based at least in part on the informationrelated to the vendor-user mobile device.
 6. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1 further comprising receiving an indication that theuser selected the readable indicia at a point-of-transaction (POT) ofthe merchant, wherein the indication that the user selected the readableindicia is received from a mobile device that comprises animage-capturing component, and wherein an image of the readable indiciaused for the transaction is captured by the mobile device.